"Look! I'm jumping into nature!" "Look what nature I found!"
I know Soren loves being outside, but I can't wait for him to be able to proclaim it himself like the girls at Burr Oak Woods today. On our way down to the creek, our Babes in the Woods group first came across a turtle.
After much investigating, we moved on to the water and the animals there. It only took a few seconds for Soren to warm up to the cool water, but he was more interested in splashing in the water than collecting specimens.
We caught a crawdad and watched some water striders zipping across the water. We also got to observe some other group members' finds: a small frog and a raccoon track in the muddy bank.
Wet from head to toe, Soren definitely had a good time splashing around and adventuring. In fact, I think he was one of the wettest kiddos in the end. Thank goodness for swimsuits!
Soren and I spent all day outside in the beautiful weather! First we trekked westward to the state which shall not be named. We went to Deanna Rose first.
I think Soren liked her because she looked like John Ray's dairy cows.
Soren made some corn flour at the Indian Encampment and, of course, spent some time in the tipi.
Next, it was the tractors, which Soren preferred to push. He can't work the pedals yet.
He LOVED walking on the number stepping stones in the garden. I must haved counted to 14 at least 14 times. They had cutouts to put your head in to take a photo, but Soren never kept his head there long enough to capture it. He had no problems cheesin' for Mama when she asked:
In the end, we got our book stamped at the bank and got our sticker and money bag for completing all the trivia qustions. On to the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens!
Though we didn't see everything, I think we can safely say that my favorite garden was the Monet garden and Soren's was the train garden. It's still under construction, but we spent 30 minutes watching the three trains run around their tracks and visiting with the volunteer who ran them.
We ended our day with dinner with Daddy and a walk around Lake Remembrance in Blue Springs.
When I was younger, I definitely was not enthused about my parents insisting on visiting historic sites and living history farms. Now I am dragging my son to them. Seems like a parental thing to do, right?
We had a good time. Soren enjoyed stomping on all the wooden floors in the buildings: the tavern, the church, the mercantile, the blacksmith shop, the settler's house. (In case you are wondering, it makes a very loud noise!) He also liked watching the animals. We saw a mock funeral procession and a scuffle between the jayhawkers and the Missouri ruffians as part of the day's reenactments.
